Hospes Palacio del Bailío hotel is a historic, art-enlivened home in Cordoba turned boutique retreat with lush gardens and a peaceful spa. This high-ceiling hideaway is a mishmash of styles – Roman ruins share the space with Moorish gates, modern furniture and sculptural chandeliers. Art is a focal point in the breezy marble corridors and a subterranean bar serves cocktails beneath a vaulted ceiling.

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

A bottle of local olive oil. Guests staying in a Dreamers room will also get a bottle of cava when they dine in Arbequina restaurant; Superior room and suite guests will get a bottle of champagne

At the hotel

Our favourite rooms

The rooms overlooking the citrus-filled courtyard are the most peaceful and boast the prettiest views – number 117, a small deluxe, is top of our list with its petite balcony, floor-to-ceiling French doors and smart egg bath tub under the window. Room 108 gets the most light and has a fantastic loft-apartment feel. The Grand Suite Loft is definitely not misnamed – the room occupies a vast space on the top floor with rows of shuttered windows and a whopping open-plan bathroom with a freestanding tub.

Poolside

The small, copper-brown tiled swimming pool is tucked in an orange grove surrounded by pink roses and low-lying sun loungers (snag the four-poster canopied one with billowing curtains if you fancy reclining in style).

Packing tips

Fear not if you forget your swimming costume – the hotel has a supply of (only slightly comical) disposable, French-made, Hawaiian-print, one-piece swimsuits.

Also

Non-smoking rooms are available, and lightweight (under 15kg) pets can stay too, for €50 a night.

Children

Under-6s stay free Cots (free) and extra beds (€50 plus tax) can be provided and babysitting can be arranged on request.

Food and Drink

Top Table

Try to get a table tucked in the corner of the courtyard rather towards the middle – the combination of the clear glass floor and ceiling can conjure uneasy goldfish-bowl sensations.

Dress Code

You’ll get by in jeans, but we recommend dressing up to the quality of the Córdoban cuisine (as much as you can in this heat, anyway).

Hotel restaurant

The hotel’s Andalucían restaurant, Arbequina, occupies a wood-beamed indoor area and spills out into the glass-roofed central courtyard, where you can see the ruins of an ancient Roman house through the transparent floor panels below.

Hotel bar

Decorated with black-and-white matador-themed photographs, the Palacio’s subterranean tapas bar is both an informal dining alternative to Arbequina, and a great place to relax with a glass or two of vino tinto.

Last orders

Arbequina doles out the dishes from 8.30pm until 11pm, but the tapas bar stays serving until midnight at the weekend.

Room service

Snacks, sandwiches and salads can be brought to your room at any time.

Location

Address

Hospes Palacio del Bailío

10–12 Ramírez de las Casas Deza

Córdoba

14001

Spain

Planes

Fly with Vueling (www.vueling.com) or Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) to Seville Airport, otherwise known as San Pablo. It takes just over an hour to drive from the airport to the hotel. The bus takes 20 minutes to reach the train station in Seville, which is a convenient five minutes from the hotel.

Trains

If you’re thinking of organising a day trip, the nearest train station is Córdoba Central, which is Renfe-operated (www.renfe.es), and offers high-speed links to Seville, Madrid and Málaga.

Automobiles

The hotel is in the historic centre of Córdoba, and guests have free access to bikes to zip around on. Car hire is available at the airport. If you’re driving to Córdoba, use the E5/A4 motorway and take exit 403 towards Plaza de Andalucía. Valet parking at the hotel costs around €26 a day.

Worth getting out of bed for

Córdoba is small and easy to walk around but if you’re feeling especially idle you can rent a bike or even a little zippy electric car to explore the area.

Local restaurants

Traditional tapas-place, Taberna Los Berengueles (+34 957 472828) on Conde de Torres Cabrera, is a short stroll away from Palacio del Bailío and has a lovely little patio to dine on. Across the street, Taberna Gongora (+34 957 490362) is a great choice if you like beer and taxidermy.

Local bars

Head to Bar Santos, just opposite the mosque, for paper plates of delicious tapas at ridiculously low prices (+34 957 479360). Sit with a cold beer and demolish your tapas outside, surrounded by locals and lucky tourists.

Reviews

Anonymous review

Our taxi is bombing down the moonlit motorway, the garrulous driver jabbering away incomprehensibly. Uncharacteristically, Mr Smith and I are silent (all that remains of my GCSE Spanish is a smattering of stationery terms – una goma, una calculadora y un sacapuntas – and I can’t see this spicing up the conversation). Suddenly, Córdoba appears before us, its lights winking in the darkness like gold dust on velvet. Mr Smith nearly ruins the sense of mystery when he spies a sign for a shop called Porcenalosa on the roadside, and declares, ‘They have one of those in Wandsworth.’ But I’m practised in selective hearing, and ignore him.

As we enter the city, walled ramparts slide into view like a dinosaur’s jagged back, and we pass grandiose palaces, nocturnal teenagers, and neon-lit tapas bars. In a tangle of side streets, the car slows down and purrs into a stone archway, lit by glimmering floor lights. A dapper concierge emerges from Hospes Palacio del Bailío’s courtyard to take our luggage, usher us into the sleek lobby and guide us past pearlescent wall panels, elegant sofas in silvery mushroom and burnt orange, and sparkly globe lights like giant baubles. Our white-walled corner room is more than roomy – there’s a sitting area with two leather chairs, Juliet-balconied windows overlooking the outdoor pool, a gargantuan grey-granite bathroom, and a bed fit for a bordello, its fabric headboard decorated with Moorish curlicues.

Mr Smith looks for liquor, while I discover an in-room treat: plump berries and cake dipped in dark chocolate. Our intentions of exploring vanish, and we order in steaming bowls of spaghetti bolognese, crack open a bottle of red, and run a bubble bath. Tub time makes way for bedtime, when I risk a thorn in my (back)side by sitting on a spiky, blush-pink rose adorning the duvet. Thankfully Mr Smith rescues it – and my posterior.

‘Where are you?’ he bleats plaintively the next morning, so I roll across our white-sheeted expanse and prod him reassuringly. It’s a struggle to abandon our blankety kingdom, but I’ve heard that the hotel restaurant is glass-floored, with Roman ruins on show underneath. I love a lie-in, but that’s definitely worth getting out of bed for.

Senzone, the Andalucían restaurant is the heart of the hotel. It’s a glass-ceilinged atrium with sculpted chairs and plump velvet sofas, pillars and mosaics visible below, and a mural of a palace occupying an entire wall. The Roman influence extends to the orgiastic approach to catering. Athletically, I polish off 15 items (I counted) from the breakfast buffet. Then I order fried eggs with roast garlic, bacon and spicy sausage. The waiter looks impressed. I order churros with hot chocolate. The waiter looks askance. Mr Smith doesn’t bat an eyelid.

Having breakfasted for Britain, it’s time to explore, and we set off hand in hand, admiring the narrow streets, creamy stone façades and cool, peaceful courtyards. We queue up for the Alcázar of the Christians and wander the castle’s gorgeous gardens. After another edifying dose of mediaeval magnificence care of the Great Mosque of Córdoba, we head for tapas at Bar Santos. Here we devour pavement-sized slabs of tortilla de patata and sip crisp, cold beer while admiring a bride in a white froth of lace, posing for pictures in a flower-bedecked garden. Hours could easily trickle away like this, but spa treatments await.

Back at our boutique hotel, we’re issued with bathrobes and slippers and guided down a spiral staircase, where we can hear a rush of water. The Roman baths are dark and cavernous, with an L-shaped pool split into three sections: cold, less cold and slightly less cold. This intimate hideaway is a seductive little lair (I guess that’s where the cold water comes in handy), but thankfully, Mr Smith and I remain within the bounds of decency.

Soon it’s massage time – Mr Smith plumps for a sports pummelling, and I opt for an Ayurvedic one. As I lie back, I congratulate myself on my choice, especially when I hear whimpering sounds issuing from my beloved’s bed. 50 minutes later, we’re reunited and Mr Smith, I’m glad to see, is still in one piece, though he limps a little when we get into the lift.

We’re booked in for dinner, so I hog the shower while Mr Smith soaks in the bath. Having donned our finery, there’s time for champagne cocktails in the bar – a subterranean stone-walled space with lipstick-red lights, decorated with black and white photographs of a matador. (‘He looks very Spanish,’ Mr Smith utters sagely.) Our drinks come long and strong, and it’s lucky we’re eating soon, because the alcoholic kick and the cigar smoke wafting from the international playboy nearby are making me woozy.

Clinging to sobriety, we claim our table. The dusky night sky dims the restaurant romantically, and there are just a few other couples dining around us, with a clutch of staff, like fish, weaving noiselessly between tables. The meal becomes a blissful blur of silky pea soup with a parmesan foam, fat scallops with tissue-thin ham, and crispy suckling pork with a cloud of amanth seeds. After coffee mousse with a chocolate truffle, we abandon our seats in favour of one of those cushioned sofas.

It’s there that my memory fails me, as regrettably, the red wine sends me to sleep, and poor Mr Smith has to lug me up the stairs (limping and all). Admittedly, I would have to confess this snoozy end to a boozy night has happened before – but never in such sublime surroundings.

The Guestbook

Whenever you book a stay at a Smith hotel or villa, we’ll invite you to review it when you get back. Read what other Smith members had to say in Hospes Palacio del Bailío’s Guestbook below.

We loved

Beautiful old palace sympathetically converted, highlights were the stunning enclosed garden and breakfast/dining room with floodlit roman ruins underneath. Staff all courteous and helpful and rooms well-appointed and comfortable. Our bathroom was excellent. We came in the spring so the aroma of orange blossom was all around and added to the atmosphere. Cordoba was a delight - plenty of excellent places to eat and drink with tons of culture and history, the people are warm and friendly.

Don’t expect

There were quite a few small children (toddlers) around when we stayed which did ruin the calm and ambience in the garden. There seemed to be a lack of waiting staff particularly at breakfast and in the garden so service was slow or hard to find.

Rating

BySally, BlackSmith

Stayed on 25 Mar 2019

We loved

The great staff, the spa, the wonderful restaurant and the overall setting.

Rating

ByAlain, BlackSmith

Stayed on 26 Feb 2019

We loved

We loved that this hotel was built from an old palace and the breakfast room floor was glass, so you could see the ruins it was built on top of. We also enjoyed afternoons at the pool to escape the Cordoba heat and the free access to the spa baths. The room was a little tight, but there was a nice sized bathroom. Friendly staff.

Don’t expect

To be right in the center of town. It was about a 10-minute walk to get to the main tourist sites. The flip side is that you are closer to some of the 'real' Cordoba spots for eating and drinking.

Rating

ByAmanda, BlackSmith

Stayed on 10 Oct 2018

We loved

We loved the peaceful pool in the blooming citrus grove - such a romantic place to while away an afternoon - especially the shaded four-poster lounger! Breakfasts at the hotel were unreal - must try! The hotel pool bar and restaurant opts for fusion food, so for more traditional Cordoban fare we would recommend Taberna Los Berengueles - just a few minutes walk from the hotel. Taberna El No.10 which is among the winding lanes - slightly nearer to the Mezquita - and our absolute favourite restaurant. Try Casa Pepe de La Judería for some stunning food and wine and excellent service. We also spent a lovely morning wandering around the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos.

Don’t expect

Nightlife - Cordoba is a beautifully traditional place where eating late into the night is about as lively as it gets.

Rating

ByAngie, BlackSmith

Stayed on 2 Jul 2018

We loved

The location was fabulous, near to the centre of Cordoba yet on a quiet street. Lovely garden and pool area. Clean, comfortable, quiet rooms. Helpful and friendly staff. The Viana Palace, the stunning gardens and tour of the rooms was a surprising highlight.

Rating

ByLinda, BlackSmith

Stayed on 17 May 2018

We loved

We loved the view of the Roman villa through the floor, our upgrade to a warm and cosy suite, and the sweet bathhouse in the basement. We also liked Taberna La Montillana, which also had more opening hours/days than the places currently recommended on the Mr & Mrs Smith site.

Don’t expect

Don't expect much vegetarian food.

Rating

ByJosephine, BlackSmith

Stayed on 17 Dec 2017

We loved

A unique hotel in a quiet neighbourhood, built above Roman ruins. Generous-sized room.

Don’t expect

That you will run out of things to do in Cordoba. Other than the Mosque - Cathedral, there's not much to see and the shopping area is tacky to say the least.

Rating

ByJoanna, BlackSmith

Stayed on 30 Oct 2017

We loved

The building is spectacular, converted from a palace. The quiet ambience throughout the property. The Mezquita is a must, it's absolutely stunning. Try eating at Casa Pepe De La Juderia – nice authentic Spanish food. Great service. It's popular, so book in high season.